


Precious

by Niki



Series: Twinkle [2]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Genre: Bedtimes, Families of Choice, Family, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 09:35:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3845974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niki/pseuds/Niki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>If anyone had told Starbuck a yahren ago that he would one day look at a child throwing a temper tantrum feeling nothing but tender protective love, he would have called them insane. Or probably worry he was going to get hit in the head a few too many times.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Precious

**Author's Note:**

> schmoop_bingo prompt: kidfic – bedtimes
> 
> Written years ago, even though I hadn't even written the planned parent story. Minor corrections to the LiveJournal version.

”But I don't _wanna_!” said the little blonde girl, stomping her foot and clutching her worn avian toy against her nightgown-covered chest.

Starbuck opened his mouth but closed it again without letting the shout out. Yelling would not help. Almost a yahren of parenthood had taught him that.

It had taught him other things, too, and had made him ”grow up,” as Adama put it, in ways that not many people thought possible. Cassie was impressed. Boomer called him staid and boring, and Apollo... well, Apollo just smiled.

In any case, it had taught him patience, and how to put someone else (who wasn't Apollo) over his own happiness and comfort.

Even the most cynical of the betting crowd had pretty much given up on waiting for him to screw it up, to get bored, and to abandon ”the family life” as Athena put it. If it had been anyone but himself, Starbuck would have been among the betters, but cynically, thinking that yet another good-meaning person found a traumatised child too much work and gave up.

Regardless of how afraid he had been in the beginning, he'd known that was one thing he would never do—he would never ever abandon the little girl whose sense of security he had so painstakingly worked to restore.

That's when it hit him. His adopted daughter, who only about a yahren ago had been nearly catatonic after first losing her family in the Destruction, then being treated cruelly in her first adoptive family, was finally feeling safe enough in her life, about her position in this family, that she could act out.

He didn't even try to stop the wide grin forming on his face. El was too busy sulking to notice anyway.

His little girl was really his, and she knew it. No one would take her away, or abandon her, or stop giving her food just because she didn't want to go to bed.

He felt like laughing, all his irritation washed away. So Ella didn't want to sleep yet. So it would mean he'd have less alone time with Apollo. So what? This moment was so precious he knew he'd never forget it.

He scooped the resisting girl up and hugged her close.

”So let's not go to sleep yet, sweetheart,” he said. ”We're not a normal family so we don't need to do things normally! We can read stories all night if you want to.”

Bribery, Apollo would probably say, but to Starbuck it felt like a gift given to himself when El started to giggle, anger forgotten.

”What stories, dad?”

”Anything you want, darling. How about we go sit down on your bed and you read me one of the fairy tales from the pad Aunt Thena gave you earlier.”

Obvious ploy, maybe. Cuddled against him in her bed, Ella would be asleep within two stories. She was sleepy, that was why she had been so cranky earlier, but this way would be much more fun than arguing the point over the next few centons with her.

They settled down, and Starbuck noticed Apollo standing in the doorway. Boxey was starting to get too old for bedtime stories, and usually went to bed without fuss.

”Can I come too?” Apollo asked El, sharing a look with Starbuck that said he had fully understood the implications behind the temper tantrum. Of course, Apollo was smarter than him, he'd probably realised it from the first shout.

El just smiled and moved to make room for Apollo to stretch out next to them on the bed. It was cramped but they could all fit if they snuggled very close to each other. No one minded.

Starbuck could hardly make out a word El was reading, still basking in his happiness. He was sure he'd get over the euphoria if the temper tantrums were there to stay but for now, he would enjoy the feeling and the moment.

The pad was already falling from Ella's fingers as she concluded the story sleepily: ”And they lived happily ever after."


End file.
